


Of Mothers and Secrets

by JPKenwood



Category: Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF, Original Work
Genre: Ancient Rome, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Historical Fantasy, M/M, Master/Slave, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 23:35:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9042701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JPKenwood/pseuds/JPKenwood
Summary: A fanfic featuring Gaius and Allerix set in the Dominus world after the events that took place in Games of Rome. All or some or none of this may or may not become canon.  I hope you all enjoy this sexy, fun story for the holidays!JPK xoxo    © Copyright 2016 All rights reserved. JP Kenwood





	

 

_**OF MOTHERS AND SECRETS** _

_A Dominus Fanfic by JP Kenwood_  
_© Copyright 2016 JP Kenwood_

 

Savage winds whipped the heavy snow outside while another dull, gray day struggled to light the spacious but sparsely furnished room in the camp’s headquarters building. A dying fire in the stone hearth crackled and sputtered its last bursts of heat. Chopped wood stacked nearby stood at the ready to fuel the next blaze.

Allerix let escape one last ecstatic groan as steam rose from their exhausted, sweat–drenched bodies only to disappear in the chilly air. Shivers shook his imperially fucked bum, but winter’s bitter bite vanished when Gaius nibbled the skin at the nape of his neck. After a few more gentle nips and warm kisses and a happy snarl of a grunt, Gaius pulled out and rolled off, lifting the wool and fur blankets up and over them both.

“I’ll ache for days.” Alle chuckled, pressing his hips into the mattress. Purplish bruises would color his alabaster skin come tomorrow. Or sooner.

“Will you survive, _căţel_?” Gaius asked playfully between rapid breaths. “Was I not tender enough?”

“I’m alive but vanquished, sir,” Allerix whispered into the pillow before turning his head to be sure his next words could be heard. A shiny trickle of sweat rolled down Gaius’s temple. Alle leaned over and wiped it off with his tongue. “You were forceful but generous. Exactly what I needed. What I wanted. Perfect.”

“Perfect, eh?” Gaius brushed his damp hair back and laughed. “Gods, how long had it been since we—?”

“Five days.”

And Allerix hadn’t even seen the Roman strolling through the camp for the past three days. Commander Fabius must have been preoccupied with the same shit he always was—settling frivolous disputes between quarreling veteran colonists and hosting visits from groveling military deputies.

And for the past five nights, Allerix hadn’t been summoned to Gaius’s master chamber once. Some other creature must have warmed the general’s bed. Or perhaps no one had. Was that possible?

But here he was—Allerix, son of King Thiamarkos. Supremely fucked and fighting to stay warm on a lazy, frigid winter afternoon atop the plush bed of his master, the chief commanding officer of this imposing Roman fortress guarding the road to the mines in the snow-covered mountains.

Gaius threw his forearm across his drowsy eyes. The pale whispers of his arm hairs glowed orange by the light of the flickering lamp. “Five days? Blast that elusive Eros. One day I’m going to ram that midget’s poison-tipped prick right up his plump little arse.”

“Poor, unsuspecting Cupid. To face the wrath of the Lion of the Lucky Fourth armed with only a child’s bow and arrow.” Allerix’s snickers dissolved into eye-watering, postcoital snorts.

A loud knock interrupted their blissful banter.

“Commander Fabius.” The guard’s stern but respectful tone rumbled through the thick wooden door. With an annoyed groan, Gaius threw back the bed covers. As he rose to his feet, he grabbed his long leather travel cloak lined with silver fox pelts off the back of a tall wicker chair.

“Should I leave?” Alle asked.

Gaius narrowed his eyes but smiled. “You are mine, and you’re where you should be. Stay as you are.” After he’d slapped Allerix’s bum cheek hard, Gaius marched across the bedroom, wrapping his winter mantle around his shoulders as he headed for the door and turned the iron handle.

“Report.”

A helmeted sentry with a gaunt face offered a thin scroll. “Correspondence from Rome, Commander Fabius.”

Gaius eyed the dispatch suspiciously before grasping it. He shut the door and casually tossed the sealed, rolled papyrus on the foot of the mattress before sauntering towards the oak table and a bronze jug full of grape. The slender scroll teetered on the fold of a bed cover before it fell to the floor.

“Not urgent news, then?”

“I’ve no idea. I don’t recognize the seal stamp.” Gaius shrugged before readjusting his cloak and gulping down a swallow of wine. “If it’s not the Emperor’s insignia, it’s not terribly important at the moment. Are all the winters here this fucking cold?” he asked, tightening his mantle around his naked body as he strolled over and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Most winters are far worse than this year’s, sir,” Alle replied. Like fog, his breath filled the space between them. He accepted the silver cup from Gaius’s hand and relished a long, quenching draught. “But you have Dacian wine. Where did you find this, sir? I’d heard our vineyards were razed.”

“Alas, they were. Several bands of auxiliaries assigned to the Fifth Legion disobeyed orders and destroyed your ancient vines to no purpose. The idiots were relieved of duty shortly after your capital fell. Which makes this precious nectar an even more fortunate discovery. One of the Thirteenth’s cohorts unearthed several large storage vessels in the ruins of your dead king’s palace. Not exactly the bastard’s infamous secret cache of gold, but it’s a damn fine substitute. To benevolent Bacchus!”

With a bemused grin, Allerix replied, “But, Dominus—other than whatever gold still resides in the mines, there’s no more treasure. Your legions removed everything of value from our cities after the war.”

“So your fellow heathens have claimed. ‘You have all of our gold,’ they insist.”

“You don’t believe the truth?” Allerix wondered before savoring another delicious swig.

“I believe in very little other than my irrational but unrelenting passion for you, _căţel_.” Gaius took the cup from Alle’s grasp and placed it next to the lamp on the side table. “Unfortunately, as much as I might wish to ignore this unexpected intrusion, I can’t avoid this message forever. Let’s see which fool is disturbing my peace today.”

Gaius bent down to retrieve the scroll and broke the wax seal. As he quickly scanned the letter, anger and disbelief welled up in his golden brown eyes. “By the cruel Fates, what’s this nonsense?”

“Dominus?”

Gaius ignored him. Red splotches mottled the Roman’s cheeks and neck. “I will not fucking accept this,” he mumbled before crumpling the note into a ball. It fell on the bed next to Allerix’s thigh.

With a deep breath, the Roman curled his hands into fists. The lines etched across his forehead grew deeper, but his voice remained smooth and unwavering. “I will not read her duplicitous lies. I refuse to offer that woman a modicum of satisfaction. I owe her nothing.”

Gaius snatched the cup and staggered to the table. He poured wine until it flowed over the cup’s lip, spilling onto the floor. His hand shook violently as he raised the drink to his lips. Splashes of burgundy soiled his mantle as his anger dissolved to tears. He wiped his eyes and, with a sloppy sniffle, turned his back to Allerix.

“Dominus?”

“She’s in Rome.” Gaius ambled over, plopping down on a bench at the foot of the bed with his back still to Alle, and lowered his head between his parted knees. Scraping his fingers through his chestnut curls, he cried, “By gods, she’s fucking alive.”

Fidgeting with the edge of a bedcover, Allerix remained quiet until he finally asked, “Who’s alive?”

“Julia Flaviana.”

“That’s quite a musical name. Is she one of your lovers?”

The wind whistled through the tiny cracks in the mortar between the stones. Somewhere outside, a wooden shutter slammed against stone.

“My lover? Gods, no.” Gaius chuckled, shaking his head. “Julia Flaviana is my mother. The one who’d promised she would come back for me and never did. The mother who’d handed over her only child—her only son—to a Spanish general she barely knew. To Marcus.”

While Gaius threw back another swallow of grape, Allerix wrapped himself in one of the blankets and sat down beside him.

“You thought she was dead.” Their hands brushed when Allerix steadied the cup shaking in Gaius’s trembling fingers.

“After she’d left without so much as a farewell, I thought she’d gone east. Syria seemed an obvious place for her to hide, comfortably free of the burden of a fatherless son. The cursed child of a condemned traitor. I will never forgive her for abandoning me. Never.”

Gaius folded his hands over back of his skull and spoke to the black-and-white mosaic floor.

“Truth be told, I was convinced she was dead. When I was younger, I often fantasized about how my dear mother died, alone and unloved. Perhaps from an exotic sickness or from Aphrodite’s shameful disease or some wretched ailment caused by Dionysian excess. But, no…”

Gaius jerked his head up, drank another swallow, and burped as he raised the near empty cup. “Mummy’s alive and back in Rome! To all the wretched, motherfucking gods! I shit on each and every one of you!”

And a last drink before Gaius collapsed into sobs he quickly controlled until they were nothing more than soft, woeful moans. Allerix wrapped him into an embrace, pressing his face into Gaius’s silky copper hair. He caught a whiff of the floral perfumes from the luxurious bath they shared earlier.

“I’m sorry, sir. To be honest, I don’t know if my mother is alive or not,” Alle confessed.

“There’s some comfort in not knowing, I suppose.” Gaius calmed his breaths and rubbed his eyes before asking, “Do you wish to discover her fate?”

“No, not really.” Alle ran his hand down Gaius’s cheek, resting two fingers where Gaius’s dimple lay hidden. “She left my father’s kingdom many years ago when I was a little boy. She took me with her, and my younger sister. She had no choice.”

“Where did she take you?”

“To a sanctuary where she worshipped without retribution. She is, or perhaps she was, a Celtic noblewoman devoted to her rituals.”

“I’ve long suspected you were of Celtic heritage given your birth name.” Gaius straightened his spine and lifted Alle’s chin. “Your mother snatched you from your father’s protection? She kidnapped you?”

“My father ordered all of us to leave his house. I’ve never learned why. Mother wouldn’t tell us. We travelled by wagon for more days than I could count to the sanctuary. A month before my tenth birthday, she returned me to my father and my Dacian kin—my uncles and my cousins—to learn from the men and become a warrior. I never saw or heard from her again.”

“You were abandoned by your mother as well, then.”

“I prefer to believe that she understood and accepted my fate. I had to leave her protection to return home and train for the battlefield. My destiny was to fight for the honor of Dacia.”

“To fight Rome.”

“To destroy Rome.”

Gaius scoffed. “A daft, futile dream.”

“Every barbarian’s dream, Dominus.”

“Indeed. And yet here we are again— back in the freezing wilds of the Carpathian Mountains. And stop bloody calling me Dominus, won’t you?” Gaius smothered Alle’s scowl with a deep, demanding kiss. “ _You_ are my lover, my brave Prince Allerix.”

“I am?”

“Yes, you are.” Gaius shook his head and suddenly cackled. “And now, on top of everything else, it seems I’ve been afflicted with Lucius’s dreadful disease! I’ve elevated my barbarian pleasure slave to the status of a respectable concubine.”

Silence.

Allerix stared at the dying fire, unsure what to say. The general’s mercurial nature often confused him. Should he be angry at those hurtful words, or relieved?

Gaius squeezed his shoulder. “Ignore my outburst, Alle. These interminable snowstorms are driving me mad. By Helios’ rays, I miss the sun and the warm, sandy shores of Campania.” Gaius drew a deep breath before crawling onto the bed, tapping the mattress for Allerix to lie down next to him.

As Allerix cautiously settled into his arms, Gaius sighed. “I should probably read the remainder of the damn thing, you know.”

“Your mother’s letter? Why?”

“What if Julia is hurt or in need of my protection or…?” He scrubbed his stubble-rough face. “Shit.”

“I can read the letter first—tell you if there’s any dire news. If it’s nothing more than a baseless appeal for funds or attention, you can ignore it.

“Can I burn it?” Gaius asked in a silly tone, rubbing his hands together as his teeth chattered.

“Yes. Shove the fucking thing right into the flames. Incinerate it.”

“Brilliant.” Gaius brushed his lips across Allerix’s mouth. The Roman tasted like wine diluted with relief. “Read the letter for me, _căţel_.”

Gaius rested his chin on Alle’s shoulder while Allerix fumbled through the hastily scribbled lines. The woman’s handwriting was nearly illegible. Messy and undisciplined.

“She wants you to know she’s in Rome. She requests an audience with you upon your return. And, if I’m reading these words correctly, something about Empress Plotina having aged poorly. Nothing urgent.”

Gaius opened his eyes and glanced down at the letter. “Thanks to merciful Juno.”

“I thought you didn’t offer prayers to your old gods?”

“I don’t, except before a battle. But Julia does. Or did. I’m not sure who she is any longer, or what foreign demons she worships these days. But when I was a child, she pretended to be most conservative and pious, whenever she wasn’t off charming a widowed senator or some other ambitious, conniving bastard. Come, let’s burn this rubbish.”

They stood in front of the dwindling flames. Alle tucked his arms under Gaius’s fur-lined mantle and wrapped them snugly around the Roman’s naked waist.

“Given that I’ve been ordered to return to bowels of Dacia, there’s a chance I might never see the capital again. Promise me you’ll ensure that my ashes are transported home for proper interment.” Gaius sighed and tossed the papyrus upon the red embers. The letter caught fire and shriveled into silvery flakes of unwanted memories.

“Don’t you have officials charged with making sure that all funeral rites are completed according to your customs?”

“I do, but you are my personal secretary for this adventure, my dear princeling. Please promise me, love. I want my remains to rest on Italian soil.”

Alle brushed his lips up the side of Gaius’s neck and replied, “I promise, Rufus.”

“Thank you.” Gaius grabbed Alle’s hand through his cloak and squeezed. “And don’t call me Rufus either. Whenever I hear that irksome name, I hear my grandmother’s scolding voice and my cock goes soft.”

“Well, we don’t want that.” Alle laughed. “What should I call you then?”

Gaius’s head fell back against Alle’s shoulder. He allowed his body to fall limp, surrendering to Allerix’s embrace. Alle shifted his legs to better support Gaius’s weight and tightened his hold.

“Call me a damned fool, Allerix.”

Alle mumbled against the curls covering Gaius’s ear. “Throw some wood onto the hearth, my handsome melodramatic fool. I’ll fetch more wine and join you on the bed.”

“What’s this, then? You’re giving the orders now, Da—?”

He pressed his fingers against Gaius’s lips. “Relax and lean on me, sir. I won’t abandon you.”

Allerix turned Gaius’s face for a soft, lingering kiss. After Gaius’s grateful groan stretched into a full-dimple grin, Alle whispered against his wine-sweet lips. “You will return home and, gods willing, you will reunite with your mother. Julia may have some answers to those niggling questions from your childhood.”

“Which questions are those?”

“The painful sorts of questions we all have but rarely ever ask of our parents.” Alle kissed Gaius’s temple and loosened his grip. “Go on, then. Rekindle the fire, Commander Fabius, and come to bed. You need to warm up your concubine’s barbarian balls again.”

Gaius tossed wood onto the glowing embers and rubbed his hands. “I enjoy these robust stone hearths you have here in the wilds. There’s something strangely satisfying about all this ferocious crackling and heat and light.”

Alle stretched his naked body across the blankets covering the mattress and interlocked his fingers underneath his head. “A blazing stone hearth warms this large room well.”

“That it does, but it’s a temporary pleasure. I’ve ordered a new headquarters building constructed—one with a properly engineered heating system under the floors and in the walls. Perhaps the new structure will serve as my last attempt to bring more civilized living to these primitive lands of yours.”

“These lands no longer belong to the Dacians. They’re yours now, sir.”

“Until the day when they’re not. We win territories and we lose them. Nothing is permanent, love.”

Gaius lifted the mantle off his shoulders and tossed it over the chair. When he turned around, his broad frame was in silhouette, backlit by the golden light of the roaring flames. The oil lamp by the bedside offered only random, shifting glimpses of the Roman’s muscular, winter-pale chest and legs.

“Just as you now belong to me.” Gaius crawled onto the bed and hovered over Allerix. “Until…” He kissed the tip of Alle’s nose and smiled. “That day in the future when you no longer do.”

“The day you die,” Allerix mumbled wistfully.

“By gods, man! I was referring to your day of manumission.” Gaius’s shocked expression lightened to a smirk. “Assuming I live long enough to bloody free you.”

Allerix grabbed Gaius by the shoulders and pulled him down for a smoldering kiss. His throbbing erection throbbed harder against Gaius’s abdomen. Chuckling, Gaius pushed himself off the bed and stared down at Alle’s stiff prick.

“Ah, to be young and always ready to fuck.” Gaius poured himself another cup of wine and moved to the end of the bed. With his burly arms folded across his chest, Gaius’s feline gaze travelled up and down Alle’s body, his cock twitching with gasps of interest. “Look at you, so fucking beautiful and hard. A perfect, unscarred ephebe plagued by constant carnal urges.”

“I have a scar. See? Here along my calf.”

“And so you do. I never noticed that slight mark under all your dark hair before.” Gaius lifted Alle’s left foot to his mouth and kissed his heel. “My poor furry boy. A disfigured warrior aching for Venus’s pleasures.”

“Are you implying I am the one who’s sexually insatiable, Dominus?” Allerix pushed up on his elbows and arched his brow as he teased. “I believe this is your plentiful patrician cream dripping out of my battered mongrel arse. Sir.”

Gaius groaned before sucking on the protruding knob of Alle's anklebone. Shivers of indescribable pleasure rushed up Allerix’s hairy legs straight to his groin.

“Hold this cup for me,” Gaius ordered in low growl. “Lovely. Now sit back against the pillows and spread your legs.”

Alle tried to hold the full cup of wine steady as he shuffled his bum across the blankets. “Ready to ravage me again so soon, Commander?”

“My cock’s not yet fully recovered but my mouth craves to taste your heat. Do not dare spill a drop of that valuable grape while I’ll worship your royal jewels. Do you understand, _căţel_?”

“Another challenge, sir?”

“The Fates are forever testing our fortitude, my dear Prince.” Gaius grinned before he climbed back onto the mattress. Lifting Alle’s leg higher, he ran his tongue up the inside of Allerix’s thigh.

“Gods!” Allerix gasped and surrendered to the Roman’s mouth.

Long, languid strokes.

A teasing slow march to victory.

Allerix closed his eyes and imagined this was happening far away somewhere else. Away from forts and soldiers and death.

Gaius swallowed his cock down to the root and took control.

Alle surrendered willingly. He arched his back and held on to the edge but the tumble over — the wave after wave of exquisite tremors— pushed him up and into Gaius’s mouth. The light blinded him and captured his breath.

The Roman made a big show of swallowing, and then slowly wiped his mouth. The fucker was smirking. Allerix offered him the cup of wine.

Gaius inhaled a long gulp and mumbled, “Delicious,” before falling onto the mattress with a moan. “So fucking scrumptious. I shall drown in Dacian nectar today.”

Alle stared at the ceiling beams, tempted to count them but too delirious to bother, his body shaking and his mind swirling. He was in love with this gorgeous shithead. This butcher. His accidental lover.

“Why didn’t you call me to your bed these past five nights, sir?”

“Did you miss me?”

“Yes.”

Gaius raised Allerix’s hand to his lip and kissed his knuckles. “I missed you as well.”

“Then why chose to sleep alone?”

“Why do you assume I was alone?”

A surge of something that shouldn’t have been so painful ripped through Alle’s gut. “My apologies. That was foolish of me.”

“I fucking adore how your eyelids grow darker and become a tad heavier when you’re jealous. But there’s no need to feel insecure, _căţel_. I was alone.” Gaius brushed the fringe away from Alle’s eyes. “I’d fallen ill. I wasn’t well enough to entertain you until today.”

An illness?

Allerix recalled the time he’d watch the Roman thrashing on his bed consumed by a feverish fit, a prisoner to those awful violent spasms.

The dreaded disease the general fought to hide.

Had the lunacy struck his master here at this fortress? Callidora had said she’d concocted a treatment to alleviate the Roman’s ailment. Had she forgotten to pack the elixir?

In the months since she’d shared the general’s secret with Alle, she’d taught him much about her sorcery and her strange herbs and medicines. In a bizarre way, Callidora reminded him of his mother. The general’s elderly whore-witch and Alle had forged an unlikely alliance. Should he now confess to his master that he knew about his disease? Could he trust the Roman to not put a blade through him?

“I’m relieved to know your good health has returned, sir.”

“As am I. Now there’s something I want you to do for me.”

Alle glanced at Gaius’s crotch. “Roll over?”

Gaius laughed. “Later, my randy satyr. We’ve hours of moonlight left.” The Roman pointed to the boxes stacked against the wall packed with scrolls from his personal library. “Read to me. My eyes are tired, and with every passing season my vision grows more feeble and blurry. I’ll be fucking blind by my fortieth year. Read me something heartbreaking but beautiful.”

“Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_ , then?”

“You know all my weaknesses, don’t you?” Gaius chuckled as he licked the last bits of wine from his lips.

“Yes, sir. I do.”

~~~~~


End file.
